The invention relates to a medical or dental-medical treatment instrument with an oscillatory rod.
In medical or dental-medical technology, a treatment of the human or animal body, or artificial parts thereof (prostheses) can be effected with a tool of a treatment instrument in various ways. In many cases there is necessary merely a treatment of the body without alteration of its shape. Here, there may be involved e.g. a surface treatment in the manner of a massage. Another kind of treatment consists in altering the shape of the body, such as is the case e.g. with a material removing working. With treatment instruments of the kind concerned, appropriately designed, the tool is set into oscillation by means of an oscillatory drive the frequency of which lies in particular in the sonic or ultrasonic range. The operating noise is in particular considerable and disturbing when the oscillatory drive is a pneumatic oscillation generator. In DE 197 51 682 A1 there is described such a treatment instrument having a pneumatic oscillatory drive for a material removing tool which is equipped for working cavities. For the purpose of noise reduction, the oscillation generator is surrounded by a sleeve of steel.
The object of the invention is to so configure a treatment instrument of the kind indicated in the introduction, that a compact construction is achieved.
The oscillatory rod consists of a base part and an additional attachment part connected therewith, which is fixed on the base part and preferably has a higher density than the base part. An oscillatory rod is proposed which, in relation to its size or its volume, has a large mass, whereby desired oscillation widths or amplitudes of such a size can be attained which cannot be attained with an oscillatory rod of known construction. Because of the formation of the oscillatory rod with two parts fastened to one another it is possible to realize a mass of a particular size in the manufacture of the oscillatory rod in that the axial position of the joint is so chosen that the sum of the partial masses is adapted to the needs of the oscillatory system. This position or mass can be determined e.g. by means of experiments, whereby a constructional size can be realized which is the same or not increased. Thereby the oscillatory rod is distinguished by an economical construction which is simple to manufacture. The economical construction is provided in that a material the density of which is greater than that of a normal material, namely steel or stainless steel, or a copper/beryllium alloy (CuBe), is expensive. If one were to produce an oscillatory rod entirely out of such a dense and expensive material not only would high manufacturing costs be inevitable, but a difficult and complex manufacture would be involved, because a material of greater density is more difficult and complex to work by material removing machining. Further, variations of the mass with the same or not increased constructional size would not be possible.
With a medical or dental-medical treatment instrument of the kind concerned, the drive system present for the tool includes an oscillatory system in which the mass must be matched to desired functions of the tool, in order to attain oscillations having amplitudes of a desired size and/or to attain a certain working power. There may be desired e.g. for a treatment instrument for a particular kind of treatment, a particular e.g. a large or small amplitude. In particular when the treatment instrument can be equipped with a plurality of different tools with constant or even variable working power there can furthermore arise disruptions in the oscillation system.
The invention thus also has the object of so configuring a medical or dental-medical treatment instrument in accordance with the preamble of claim 3 that it is suitable for different requirements, e.g. for tools and/or different amplitudes and/or for different powers.
This object is achieved by means of the features of claim 3. Advantageous developments of the invention are indicated in associated sub-claims.
In an embodiment, a plurality of oscillatory rods of different masses are provided which can be selectively installed or exchanged in a workshop or by the user. By this means the treatment instrument is made adaptable, e.g. to selectively exchangeable tools of different masses or mass effects or to particular sizes of desired amplitudes or powers. Since with unfavourable oscillation relationships the oscillation system is disrupted and thus also the power cannot be fully exploited, the configuration in accordance with the invention also leads to the effect that exploitation of the power is improved, which can be attained by means of the exchange or the installation of a particular one of the available oscillatory rods. The installation can take place in workshop assembly of the treatment instrument when the treatment instrument is to be equipped for a particular kind of use. Information thereof can be given by the user in advance, so that it can be taken into account upon assembly in the workshop. When the oscillatory rods are installable or exchangeable by the user, the user can adapt the treatment instrument to the desired intended use or uses. Here, however, there is needed a construction of the mounting for the oscillatory rods which makes it possible to install or exchange a particular oscillatory rod with little effort.
The configuration in accordance to the invention is also well suited for a treatment instrument having a setting device for the power. By means of the selective installation of an oscillatory rod of particular mass, the oscillatory system can be adapted to a particular power setting or the power magnitude can be, in the sense of a displacement, increased or reduced.
The subclaims contain features which lead to simple and economical manners of construction and ensure a simple and reliable fastening of the component or the components of the least one base part of the oscillatory rod, which can be carried out with little effort.
With regard to the advantages which can be obtained by means of the oscillatory rod, for the avoidance of repetition, attention is directed to the above description of advantages.